This invention relates to a method of processing a light-sensitive silver halide color photographic material (hereinafter referred to as "light-sensitive material"), in which a water-washing step has been omitted. More particularly, it relates to a method of processing light-sensitive material by use of a water-washing substitute processing solution, which is capable of preventing stains from generating at an unexposed portion when processed in a continuous processing.
In general, light-sensitive materials, having been subjected to image exposure, are processed by processing steps such as color developing, bleaching, fixing, stabilizing, bleach-fixing and water-washing. In these processing steps, it has recently come into serious question increasingly that water source is being drained, cost for water-washing is increasing because of a rise in price of crude oil, and so forth.
For this reason, as a means for omitting the step of water-washing or decreasing extremely the amount of water for the washing, it has been proposed a processing technique of multi-stepwise countercurrent stabilization as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8453/1982, or a processing technique containing a complex salt of bismuth as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 134636/1983.
However, in order to apply the processing method of the multi-stepwise countercurrent system employing a water-washing substitute stabilizing solution to a small-sized automatic processing machine requiring only a smaller installation area and a lower cost, which has recently been desired by users, it is necessary to reduce the number of tanks, and, as a problem which could not be anticipated when the number of tanks was reduced, the present inventors found that, when a continuous processing is carried out for such a long period of time that the total amount of replenishing solution for a water-washing substitute processing tank solution may become 6 to 7 times or more of the volume of a tank for the water-washing substitute processing, cyan colored color spots are generated on a processing light-sensitive material to show as stains. In particular, the color spots, i.e. the stains, are remarkable at an unexposed portion, and, especially in a color paper, where the unexposed portion comprises a white ground, it was found that even a small number of stains comes to be a serious defect.
It was also found that, although the cyan stains may disappear with lapse of time, they become a very serious problem when viewed from a standpoint as commercial goods.